How ColorSpace Keeps LAB Color Harmonies True to Your Markers
Explore the safeguards that keep ColorSpace palettes honest—starting with real marker measurements and ending with tritone-ready harmonies that never drift away from your collection.
Start from physical data, not theoretical values
ColorSpace never invents colors. Every harmony begins with the RGB and LAB readings stored inside your marker database, whether you are working with the demo library or a custom ColorBase export.
Because those readings come from real swatch scans, the system can guarantee that each palette uses pigments you already own. The platform’s strict display policy prevents CSS filters or programmatic adjustments from altering the original measurements.
- Marker entries include LAB, RGB, brand, finish, and collection metadata.
- Palette suggestions always reference a physical marker record.
- Users can trace every generated color back to its source swatch.
LAB space makes harmony math perceptually reliable
Traditional RGB calculations can mislead the eye because channel distances do not reflect how people perceive hue and brightness changes. ColorSpace performs harmony math in CIELAB space so equal numeric steps translate to consistent visual differences.
The engine keeps lightness, chroma, and hue relationships intact when generating analogous, complementary, triadic, split-complementary, and advanced presets. That means the output behaves the same on calibrated monitors, tablets, or print proofs.
- LAB calculations protect perceptual uniformity across harmony families.
- Highlight and shadow variations stay within a predictable L* range.
- Artists can rely on harmonies when moving designs from screen to paper.
Delta E 2000 safeguards match quality
After the harmony math determines a target position in LAB space, ColorSpace finds the closest available marker using Delta E 2000. This metric measures how noticeable the difference is between two colors; lower values mean a closer match.
ColorSpace reports and respects those Delta E scores so teams can decide whether to keep a suggested pairing or explore alternatives. The matcher interface in the app highlights the same data, making it easy to evaluate trade-offs before committing to ink or paint.
- Delta E 2000 prioritises perceptual similarity over raw channel distance.
- Matches avoid drifting into colours that your collection cannot reproduce.
- The system offers transparent diagnostics rather than hidden substitutions.
Tritone expansion readies palettes for actual artwork
Every palette entry includes a base colour plus companion highlight and shadow values. Highlights target an L* around 85 while shadows aim for the mid-40s to maintain depth without introducing abrupt bands.
Because each variation still references a real marker, you can pull the corresponding pens, brush markers, or digital swatches and start rendering immediately. Nothing is up-sampled or artificially brightened during export.
- Base, highlight, and shadow use the same underlying pigment family.
- Value targets are tuned for practical shading ranges on marker paper.
- Exported palettes stay ready for layout software and print production.
Multiple theory models for different lessons
ColorSpace supports LAB, HSV Uniform, traditional RYB, the Munsell system, and natural harmony presets. The Education hub explains when each model is most helpful—from teaching foundational wheel relationships to planning product photos where lighting temperature matters.
Switching models does not compromise accuracy because the underlying marker data remains constant. You can compare suggestions side-by-side and choose the option that fits your brief or classroom objective.
- Educators can teach classical theory while referencing modern measurements.
- Designers can swap models to explore palettes for packaging, UI, or concept art.
- Students learn how different systems interpret the same trusted marker set.
Harmony verification loop
This loop keeps ColorSpace harmonies anchored to measurable LAB values before they ship to artists.
- Start with ColorBase data to guarantee every input is a measured pigment.
- Run harmony math in LAB and compare tritone results against target lightness values.
- Validate final palettes by sampling physical swatches and logging ΔE₀₀ scores.
- Feed QA findings back into the color configuration so future runs stay within tolerance.
Resources & Downloads
3 resourcesColorSpace Harmony Reference Sheet
At-a-glance overview of LAB targets, Delta E breakpoints, and tritone lightness values used in production.
Quick reference • 2 pages
Harmony Validation Workbook
Google Sheets template for logging harmony experiments, Delta E results, and QA notes across teams.
Spreadsheet • with formulas
ColorSpace Palette Demo (JSON)
Sample palette export showing tritone expansion and metadata for five LAB-balanced markers.
JSON • 5 entries
Evidence & Further Reading
- CIE 15: Colorimetry (4th Edition)
Defines the CIE LAB color space and measurement standards referenced by ColorSpace.
- Delta E 2000 Color-Difference Formula
Detailed explanation of the ΔE₀₀ computation used for marker matching.
- OkLab and OKLCH Colorspaces
Modern perceptual color space research that complements LAB for even hue distributions.
Evaluate harmonies with real marker data
Test ColorSpace against your ColorBase exports, monitor Delta E values, and ship palettes with confidence.